Joe Schoenmann

Downtown Las Vegas Reporter

A native Wisconsinite, Joe earned a journalism degree to get out of college early but wanted none of the craft after graduation. Need for a job landed him at small Wisconsin weeklies before moving to Las Vegas in 1997. He has been recognized for his magazine profiles and his investigative stories that exposed police bias against minorities.

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Joe Downtown: Challenges daunting but foundation solid for conservation league, departing official says: Tuesday, May 21, 2013; As Scot Rutledge prepares to leave Las Vegas after seven years heading the Nevada Conservation League, he has to take some pride in how far his organization has come since he took the reins. At the same time, he admits the environmental challenges facing his organization and the state are daunting. One of the biggest, he predicts, will be if and when the state starts to deal with climate changes brought on by global warming.
Joe Downtown: Local Motors CEO visits Las Vegas: Monday, May 20, 2013; One of the newest businesses to gain support from VegasTechFund is Local Motors. Founded five years ago, Local Motors uses crowdsourcing to help in the design of a car, motorcycle or other type of vehicle. John Rogers Jr., president and CEO, last week was in downtown Las Vegas, where VegasTechFund is headquartered. The fund is a tech investment group whose partners include Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.
Joe Downtown: Doughnut shop, tavern, offices may be in mix for former John E. Carson Hotel: Monday, May 20, 2013; Work last week began on the interior demolition of the John E. Carson Hotel, 124 S. Sixth St., purchased a year ago and now part of the realm of the Downtown Project.
One dead in blast at Las Vegas truck repair facility: Friday, May 17, 2013; One man is dead after an explosion Friday morning at truck-repair operation near Nellis Air Force Base. The explosion at Nevada Truck & Repair, 4915 N. Sloan Lane, is under investigation.
Joe Downtown: TV series to showcase Las Vegas arts scene?: Thursday, May 16, 2013; Just beyond the doors of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, a film crew is focused on Charles Ressler. Living in Las Vegas the past two years, Ressler, a New York native, has thrown himself into various roles supporting and bolstering connections between the arts, culture and community in downtown Las Vegas.
Joe Downtown: Shared memories of the Huntridge could be crucial to its revival: Wednesday, May 15, 2013; If the walls of the Huntridge theater could speak, they might tell the story of Bob Coffin's first kiss. Or of seeing John Angus in stitches at the hilarious musings of Danny Thomas.
Joe Downtown: Tony Hsieh to get new landlord?: ST Residential lists several of its high-profile Las Vegas properties, including The Ogden, for sale; Wednesday, May 15, 2013; Residents of The Ogden high-rise in Downtown Las Vegas are buzzing about what they say is the impending sale of the building to a foreign company. The Ogden is an activity hub for the nouveau downtown tech crowd and home to Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.
Joe Downtown: Keeping the door and keeping the peace at the Griffin: Wednesday, May 15, 2013; You don't wanna mess with a bouncer whose pro wrestling finishing move is called Death From Above.
Joe Downtown: Experience 'Our Las Vegas' artists' works at Emergency Arts exhibit: Wednesday, May 15, 2013; Galleries and art on display in the former examination rooms of downtown Las Vegas’ Emergency Arts building, a former medical clinic, will be featured in two events at the end of this month.
Joe Downtown: The Grill at Gold Spike reopens to high praise: Tuesday, May 14, 2013; The moderate prices, Muzak-less atmosphere and care taken with my chicken caesar salad – no brown lettuce, freshly grilled chicken, just-right tangy dressing – of The Grill inside Gold Spike just earned my vote as a great place to eat downtown.
Joe Downtown: Late delivery will keep Uncle Joe's in existing shop: Monday, May 13, 2013; Uncle Joe's Pizza is staying put. I reported recently that the longtime Fremont Street restaurant had closed and would reopen in the Gold Spike, one of Downtown Project's most recent acquisitions.
Joe Downtown: Production company seeks Huntridge memories: Monday, May 13, 2013; Silver State Production Services wants people with stories and memories of the Huntridge Theater to tell them for the camera Wednesday night.
Joe Downtown: Two new restaurants join downtown scene: Friday, May 10, 2013; A soon-to-open Italian sub joint, along with Mingo, a new bar/restaurant further near Casino Center Drive and Charleston Boulevard, might just give some of the new Fremont East bar/restaurants a run for their money.
Joe Downtown: Fremont East Studios producer shopping new film to crowd at Cannes: Friday, May 10, 2013; Freeman White III has come a long way since his first film, a documentary about buffalo grass. Next week, he’s bringing “Five Thirteen,”a film five years in the making, to Cannes for the international film festival to show to potential buyers and distributors.
Joe Downtown: Golden Gate not scrimping on National Shrimp Day: Downtown casino that brought shrimp cocktails to Las Vegas to roll back price of dish to 1959; Thursday, May 9, 2013; There may be nothing more “Vegas” than the shrimp cocktail. Well, that is after gambling, neon signage, diminishing water resources and the mistaken belief that prostitution is legal here.
Joe Downtown: Helldorado Days heralds Vegas' Wild West past: Wednesday, May 8, 2013; Computer chips easily outnumber cowboys in Downtown Las Vegas, especially as startup founders and coders find sanctuary around East Fremont Street, soon to be the backyard of dot-com retailer Zappos. But Zappos aside, Las Vegas’ persona remains firmly grounded in the Wild West myth, and downtown’s Helldorado Days, a multiday celebration of the the West’s rugged reputation, fits right in.
Joe Downtown: Urban transformation could make Las Vegas for Las Vegans: Wednesday, May 8, 2013; Las Vegas Strip casinos aren't there for locals, but more and more, Downtown development is.
Joe Downtown: Project 100 hiring for transportation positions: Wednesday, May 8, 2013; Project 100, the ambitious multimodal transportation system beginning in downtown Las Vegas, is seeking several people to fill a variety of new jobs.
Joe Downtown: Slots making brief reappearance at Gold Spike: Tuesday, May 7, 2013; The Gold Spike reopened this week with a surprising addition: slot machines. Technicians on Tuesday morning wheeled some 10 or more machines out of a truck and onto the floor of the business, which closed April 21, less than a month ago after being purchased from Siegel Group Nevada Inc. by Downtown Project investors. After the sale was completed, Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO and one of the Downtown Project partners, said it would not reopen as a casino.
Joe Downtown: Ceremony to honor El Cortez for inclusion on National Register: Tuesday, May 7, 2013; One of Downtown Las Vegas’ oldest residents, the El Cortez, will be honored for winning a listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Mayor Carolyn Goodman and Councilman Bob Coffin will headline a ceremony at 4 p.m. Thursday to unveil a commemorative plaque at the hotel/casino. The city's oldest hotel to continuously operate under the same name, the El Cortez became only the second Las Vegas casino on the nation's cultural preservation list in February.
Joe Downtown: Unannounced First Friday street-closing creates chaos, bar owner says: Tuesday, May 7, 2013; “It was ugly” is how one business owner described Friday night in the Fremont East Entertainment District. “It felt dangerous,” said another. And "it" might have been encouraged by the city closing a portion of Fremont Street during and after First Friday activities. The First Friday art show/street fair is one of downtown’s biggest successes, driving 25,000 to 30,000 people to an area near Charleston Boulevard and Main Street on the first Friday night of each month.
Joe Downtown: Casino-less Gold Spike opens Monday; old pizza place to get new life: Friday, May 3, 2013; Less than a month after it closed, the Gold Spike will reopen Monday as a bar and restaurant with a large area once devoted to slot machines now home to games such as pool, darts, Golden Tee video golf and shuffleboard.
Joe Downtown: First Friday, by the numbers: Friday, May 3, 2013; I remember bits and pieces of the first First Friday in downtown. The October 2002 night was chilly. Someone had set up a small table with wine, crackers and cheese inside the Arts Factory. Maybe 200 people, more or less, were there. Unlike today, no food carts or vendors were on the street.
Joe Downtown: Playboy TV brings South American beauties to Atomic, Gold Spike: Thursday, May 2, 2013; Playboy models from Buenos Aires invaded downtown this week, filming Wednesday night for Playboy TV at Atomic Liquors and Thursday afternoon at the Gold Spike. Kent Johns, Atomic owner, said Playboy TV was doing “secret spots” shoots in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas.
Joe Downtown: Court hearings off, slots on during power outage: Thursday, May 2, 2013; A nearly hour-long power outage left portions of downtown, including some government buildings and at least two major casinos, in the dark Thursday afternoon.
Joe Downtown: Life is Beautiful commercial shoot showcases the vibrance of Downtown: Wednesday, May 1, 2013; The festival's video will air in early June.
Joe Downtown: How's this for mixology? Stops on pub crawl feature science topics: Wednesday, May 1, 2013; The federally funded space shuttle program ended three years ago, a move that opened the door a little wider for private investors to do their own space exploration. David Knight, described as a “filmmaker/investor/entrepreneur” will talk about that Wednesday at the “Las Vegas Science Crawl” that begins at 6 p.m. in the Construction Zone speaker trailer.
Joe Downtown: Developer might act on need for mid-priced apartments downtown: Wednesday, May 1, 2013; With downtown Las Vegas about to see an influx of 1,300 Zappos employees in a few months, a major local developer is considering construction of a large, mid-priced residential apartment building a few blocks off Fremont Street.
Joe Downtown: Hollywood titan making commercial for casinos, but what about Vegas movie?: Monday, April 29, 2013; Imagine playing at a casino where the toss of the dice can land you in a steamy jungle or open a gateway for giant wasps to attack slot junkies.
Joe Downtown: Gold Spike to reopen within two weeks, without casino: Friday, April 26, 2013; With many of its former employees returning, the Gold Spike casino/hotel will reopen within the next two weeks as a restaurant/bar. As expected, the business will open without a casino. And for the time being, hotel operations are shut down.
Joe Downtown: Holding out for alpacas and solar power: Friday, April 26, 2013; The Las Vegas Sun's embedded downtown reporter does a little eavesdropping and takes a pulse on downtown Las Vegas.
Joe Downtown: Like a Pied Piper, llama leads parade of people through streets: Friday, April 26, 2013; Following a rented llama from The Beat coffeehouse north on Las Vegas Boulevard to Cashman Field, about 100 people took part in the first of what will be a monthly llama parade this summer.
Joe Downtown: Complaints spur effort to change code on building retrofits: Thursday, April 25, 2013; A Las Vegas councilman wants to change a city code that forces developers to spend thousands to retrofit older buildings with energy-saving measures such as window glazing and insulation on cinder-block walls.
Joe Downtown: SlotZilla gets its steel legs today: Thursday, April 25, 2013; The scaffolding-supported zip line at the Fremont Street Experience is slowly being transformed into the $11 million SlotZilla, a slot-machine-themed attraction whose metal beams are being put into place today.
Joe Downtown: For Container Park's dome, that's a wrap: Thursday, April 25, 2013; The skeleton went up a few weeks ago. Now the fabric dome is in place. Slowly, the Downtown Container Park – which is more of a prefabricated cube-park since the original idea of using shipping containers has been mostly abandoned – is coming together.
Joe Downtown: Siren brings songs to downtown streets: Thursday, April 25, 2013; Vanessa Andrea has been writing and performing songs since she was 12. Her first was an expression of acceptance for her father, then serving time in the California prison system. “Songs have been my key to surviving,” says Andrea, who at 23 sings with the voice of someone much older. She said she has worked since she was 14 to support her family. “It’s gotten me through life, saved my life, really. Dad in prison, mom addicted to drugs. Writing songs helped me get away and communicate what I felt.”
Joe Downtown: Internet series to explore 'downtown from the inside': Wednesday, April 24, 2013; A local production company today begins filming the antics, thoughts and lives of a handful of downtown residents for an Internet series that shines light on the people behind the area’s transformation from the forsaken to the embraced.
Joe Downtown: Ecomom to relaunch under ownership of Washington-based business: Wednesday, April 24, 2013; A Spokane, Wash., e-commerce site has bought the inventory and name of ecomom.com, a Las Vegas-based online company dissolved shortly after co-founder Jody Sherman committed suicide in January.
Joe Downtown: Michael Morton likes that his new La Comida restaurant is 'a little off': Tuesday, April 23, 2013; The monkey skeleton sign at La Comida, the new Mexican restaurant downtown, isn’t there simply because it’s unique, fun and destined in some distant future to end up in the Neon Museum. A monkey-Mexican connection exists: Mayans, who lived in Mexico, considered monkeys divine creatures. But even Michael Morton, who is opening the restaurant at Sixth and Fremont streets, acknowledges that beyond its historical take, the sign, conceived by his wife, “is a lot of fun.”
Joe Downtown: Festival puts out casting call for filming of promotional spot: Tuesday, April 23, 2013; Fremont Street businesses will offer discounted food and drinks Monday night to draw people for the filming of a promotional ad for the upcoming Life Is Beautiful music, food and art festival.
Joe Downtown: Coffee shop owner says deal to open downtown still brewing: Monday, April 22, 2013; The rumors are true, but you’ll have to wait. Sambalatte, a popular coffee shop in the Boca Park shopping mall, near Rampart and Charleston boulevards, is definitely going to be open somewhere downtown, owner/operator Luiz Claudio Oliveira said.
Joe Downtown: Atomic fusion melds partnership between bar, museum: Friday, April 19, 2013; The Atomic bar, which has pushed its opening back to sometime in May, has formed a partnership with the National Atomic Testing Museum.
Joe Downtown: Crowdfunded Vegas Tech House to offer lodging for techies in transition: Thursday, April 18, 2013; Hoping to add to downtown’s tech startup ecosystem, Jon Sterling wants to buy a house downtown for startup founders as they transition into Las Vegas. To do that, the 34-year-old startup founder and former real estate businessman is doing something he’s never seen: He’s giving himself a month to raise $125,000 in small donations, branding opportunities and other means.
Joe Downtown: Vegas-raised actor finds fame in Kmart's 'Ship My Pants' ad: Thursday, April 18, 2013; Las Vegan Michael Bunin has done pretty well as a comedic actor. He’s been in national television ad campaigns, been a regular on a television series, and earlier this month he was in the season premiere of “Mad Men.” But nothing in the Chaparral High School graduate’s career so far is likely to top a 35-second advertisement that first aired a week ago on YouTube and has gone viral with nearly 12 million views so far. It’s an ad for Kmart’s policy of shipping items customers can’t find in the store to their homes for free. It begins with 10 words from a disbelieving Bunin to a Kmart employee: "Ship my pants, right here? Ship my pants, you're kidding."
Joe Downtown: Tony Hsieh envisions real progress for Las Vegas. How dare he?: Wednesday, April 17, 2013; Turning casinos into community? The guy must hate Las Vegas.
Joe Downtown: Iowa students announce vegan food truck as their downtown project: Wednesday, April 17, 2013; After spending spring break here, University of Iowa students in a class that focuses only on downtown Las Vegas have come up with something they believe will enhance the area. The upper-level students who spent spring break here and downtown as part of their classwork are going to introduce a vegan food truck to the downtown landscape.
Joe Downtown: Vandals waste no time tagging Container Park tower: Wednesday, April 17, 2013; It comes as little surprise that about a day after a 40-foot observation tower was erected on the site of the Downtown Container Park at Seventh and Fremont streets, graffiti was found on it.
Joe Downtown: Cirque costume designers take advantage of Stitch Factory's offerings: Wednesday, April 17, 2013; Cirque du Soleil has a virtual lock on the Las Vegas Strip performance industry with seven – and soon to be eight – shows, including the upcoming Michael Jackson tribute “One.” But now you can even find the entertainment giant’s employees working downtown.
They’re not performing. They’re sewing.
Joe Downtown: Additional pieces added to Downtown Container Park: Tuesday, April 16, 2013; A few more pieces have been added to the Downtown Container Park, a project developers hope to have in place this fall. Situated at Seventh and Fremont streets, the Container Park – which has been redesigned to include more prefabricated cubes than shipping containers – will take up a half block and include enough spaces to accommodate 20 to 30 businesses. Monday afternoon, a 40-foot tower containing a spiral staircase was hoisted into place with a massive crane. The tower walls will be adorned with large-lettered signage, with a light feature affixed to the peak; inside will be a private observation room.
Joe Downtown: Former Gold Spike employees seek jobs with other casinos, Downtown Project: Tuesday, April 16, 2013; Nearly 50 former employees of the Gold Spike casino/hotel seeking jobs after the property's sale and closure showed for interviews with five different businesses or agencies Tuesday morning.